Details

LOT 2200

Natural History - Fossil Enchodus Tooth

CRETACEOUS PERIOD, CIRCA 145-65 MILLION YEARS B.P.

5 1/2 in. (508 grams, 14.2 cm).

The fang tooth with a section of the jaw, set on a sandstone matrix. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From Morocco, North Africa.
From a Lincolnshire, UK, collection.

Footnotes

The Enchodus fish is an extinct genus of bony fish. It flourished during the Upper Cretaceous and later and was small to medium in size. One of the genus's most notable attributes are the large 'fangs' at the front of the upper and lower jaws and on the palatine bones, leading to its misleading nickname among paleoichthyologists, 'the saber-toothed herring'; these fangs, along with a long sleek body and large eyes, suggest Enchodus was a predatory species.